Fighting against Jim Crow Hiring: Black Activism for Employment in New York's War Industries, 1940–45

Increasingly scholars have identified World War II as a catalyst for black activism and a more militant African American consciousness.  Blacks linked the issues of victory over Fascism abroad with victory over racism at home in a campaign for racial equality known as “Double V.”  New York City’s African Americans and various black organizations, believed that equal employment opportunity was a civil right for all.  This notion prompted black activism to pressure state and federal government agencies to establish and enforce fair employment legislation.

African Americans and black organizations employed many strategies to pressure the state government to pass fair employment legislation and later to prompt federal and state fair employment agencies to enforce this legislation.  Press campaigns, pressure for legislation, public protests, and collaboration with government agencies were a few of the varied tactics used to help blacks attain better paying jobs in New York City’s war industries. Local branches of national organizations such as the NAACP, the National Urban League and the National Negro Congress worked along-side grassroots organizations to facilitate hiring of blacks by factories with federal contracts. 

Many of the factories with war contracts were located in Brooklyn and it was the Industrial Department of the Brooklyn Urban League that proved to be the most effective organization in facilitating hiring of blacks.  The organization facilitated hiring of black workers by collaborating with local offices of the New York State Defense Council’s Committee on Discrimination (COD) and the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC).  The Brooklyn Urban League fielded complaints of hiring and employment discrimination from local blacks, conducted investigations, and when it found evidence of discrimination, referred those cases to COD and FEPC offices.  In this way, the Brooklyn Urban League became part of the enforcement infrastructure for fair employment agencies in New York.